PG-Dejounte Murray

SG-Giddey

SF-Paul George

PF-Sabonis

C-Jokic

G-Klay

F-Thad Young

UTIL-Seth Curry

UTIL-Drummond

UTIL-Torrey Craig

BN-Milton

BN-Fultz

What do you guys think? I got PG, Sabonis and Jokic via trade but had to give up my depth pieces. Thanks in advance!

@dballbball so I have fallen in rebounds and caught Hartenstein and Poku from Free Agency. Would you recommend dropping one of them for Duren who have a good window while Stewart is out? Or do you think holding one of them is better?

Hey guys,

This team is in a standard 9 cat, 12 team league. I know I have a lot of stash type guys but I have noticed Poku and Malik Monk recently dropped to waivers that I may look to claim. I shifted builds post draft noticing everyone went for similar builds to start and am now punting points. Please rate and lmk what I can aim for to improve

Thanks

Nasser

Hi Derek,

Could really use your advice again as it’s been a rough start to the season and your breakdown was really insightful last time! I’ve had a few changes since the last time I messaged, but mine was the team with a punt on steals and assists in 9CatH2H if you happen to remember at all.

Current team is;

Guards; Jamal Murray, Rozier, Huerter, Lavine, Monk, Shake Milton (stream)

Forwards; Lauri, Keegan Murray, John Collins and Poku

Centres; Embiid, Olynyk, Zubac

IL; LeBron and Bogdan. 

In the season so far I’ve been very good in blocks, one of the better teams in rebounds and 3’s and around average in points and FG%. 

Despite punting 2 guards categories, I’ve been the worst team in the league in TO’s which I find unusual. 

Watch list guys I have are most of the big men usually available - Richards, Okongwu, Jalen Smith, IJax, Kessler, Duran. Harrison Barnes is also there who feels like he might fit the build well. 

Any advice would be very welcomed, thank you for your help!

@kennycruz6-kc Neither Hartenstein nor Pokusevski will put you over in REB, but they're still better options overall than Duren, if you ask me. It's going to be harder for Duren without Cunningham setting the table for him. The floor will also shrink without Stewart stretching out the other big, so I don't think Duren is going to see a boost in production or efficiency in the short-term.

@gb264 You acquired those three via trade and didn't have to trade Murray? Did you hold the other manager's family hostage or something? That's a pretty solid base, regardless of cost. I'll take two or three first round talents over five or six mid-round players or later, so I'm not too concerned about cost.

For the record, I think every player listed below Thompson is a light hold or stream. You definitely did lose depth in those trades, but your roster still features a strong collection of standard league producers. Even if some of these back-benchers are playing well, I think it's important that you continue to rotate them so that you can maximize your games played totals. Streaming should be very important on this squad. In fact, I think you've built the sort of roster that should be looking to make multiple week-long streaming plays in every single matchup. With that in mind, most of my judgement of your team will be based on the Murray-Giddey-George-Sabonis-Jokic-Thompson group. I don't see anyone else as a long-term option, with the possible exception of Fultz.

There is no way you're competing in PTS without that depth you would have given up in trades. This is an easy punt, in my opinion. 3PT production seems like it's going to be too far behind the average to be reliable as well.

I have no issues with your potential in AST or REB. The Giddey-Jokic-Murray-Sabonis core will give you a major boost in both areas. You should try to stream in extra production in both areas where possible, but I think you could win these either way.

BLK is a pure punt. There is no way you're bringing that category back with Jokic and Sabonis as some of your premier rim protectors. STL looks fairly competitive and can be easily addressed on the waiver wire. I recommend you do so weekly.

In terms of efficiency, I think you should be fairly competitive in the areas of FG%, FT% and TO. Jokic and Sabonis should hold you afloat in FG% by volume, since half your roster will probably take half as many shots as they do on any given night. There's no real drags on this category at present and it's worth maintaining as such. Sabonis may pull you down in FT% a bit, but I think you have a strong collection of high-percentage shooters distributed throughout your roster. Drummond will hurt you here and can be flipped if needed, since he is a non-essential member of the team. There aren't enough high-usage players for me to be concerned with TO on this squad, so I expect you can win here regularly and can probably assume some risk in this category if it helps you elsewhere.

I would recommend that you consider adding the following players, if available: Bruce Brown, Charles Bassey, Georges Niang, Harrison Barnes, Immanuel Quickley, Jalen Williams, Jeremy Sochan, John Konchar, John Wall, Jose Alvarado, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Kevon Looney, Kyle Anderson, Lamar Stevens, Lonnie Walker IV, Mason Plumlee, Tari Eason, Tyus Jones and Yuta Watanabe.

Keep an eye out for my "The Week Ahead" articles. I preview the upcoming schedule for each fantasy week and give some specific insight for how to stream effectively every week. I think it would be particularly useful for your needs.

Good luck!

@dballbball so who would you recommend me to move? This is my roster: Giannis, FVV, Donovan, Edwards, Porzinguis, Brook, JJJ, Hayward, Middleton, Cole, Conley, White, Poku & Hartenstein. 

Some notable FA in case a trade isn’t recommended: Duren, Achiuwa, Richards, Bassey, Bryant, Konchar, Okomgwu & Bagley. 

@dballbball Hi Derek! 

So Im crushing 5 categories (top 1 or 2 in the league) in: FG%, REB, STL, BLK, and TO. I’m alright in AST (7th best) and nearly dead last in 3PM, FT% (both of which were intended) but also PTS. 

Is this a good strategy or no? Should I try to increase my assists? I feel like moving Horford to strengthen my assist. But should I change my strategy or live and die by the punt 3 cat strategy to make my other categories really strong?

Thanks in advance!

@kennycruz6-kc Do you feel that you need to stash Anthony? I'm not convinced he's worth waiting on if you have other injured players and need to make a move. You could also probably consider Conley, Pokusevski and White as sell high players at the moment. They're all valuable but I don't see the current level of production as reliable for the rest of the season.

Konchar is definitely worth an add with the shape of the Grizzlies frontcourt. Same for Jones if he's still around. Okongwu has probably bottomed-out in terms of production, so I'm inclined to believe it's all up from here, but the truth is that he's not a standard league player right now, even if I do think he finishes in that range. Worth a shot if you like to gamble.

I'm not particularly high on Duren but you're probably not winning FT% with Antetokounmpo, so I get the impulse to roster him. Go for it if you think you need an edge in BLK or REB this week. I still prefer Bagley in the short-term.

To be honest, I would be interested in seeing what's out there for Antetokounmpo. This team could win FT% without him. I think it might be worthwhile if you're able to get a top-12 player in exchange.

@brandonbourassa It's definitely worthwhile to invest a little extra effort into stabilizing AST and PTS. It's hard to tell what options you have on that front. If possible, you could address this by adding a high-usage point guard that doesn't shoot well. Some players that come to mind: Ayo Dosunmu, D'Angelo Russell, Dennis Smith Jr., Immanuel Quickley, Jaden Ivey, Jalen Suggs, Ja Morant, Jordan Goodwin, Kevin Porter, Russell Westbrook, Spencer Dinwiddie, Tre Jones and Tre Mann. Some of these guys are obviously going to be trade targets instead of free agents, but they're all roster-worthy for your needs. Horford is one of the best AST producers among big men, so I'd try to ensure that the return gives equal or greater value in AST or PTS, since those are the areas you want to improve.

@hamish-ward-4342 Hi again Hamish.

I'm less convinced that you're punting AST or STL after these roster moves. Neither are reliable strengths, and STL seems greater than AST, but you have shored up your production in these areas since my last update. This may be part of the impact you're seeing but not necessarily expecting in TO. Keep in mind that Embiid is the single-worst player league-wide in this category right now. 

Harrison Barnes and Jalen Smith would be very high on my list. I've actually retained Smith in all leagues since drafting him, so I have yet to consider him as a waiver wire player this year. As ugly as it has been, there is still a nice combination of counting stats and high potential that keeps me hanging on. Barnes has been returning to form lately and probably won't be a free agent for much longer. Both could help you. Richards would be the consolation prize if he didn't have a bad schedule this week. Next up for me would probably be Okongwu, followed by whichever of Jackson or Kessler you prefer.

Keep pushing in STL if you can, but leave AST alone. You can move on from Milton or Monk if needed. Huerter and Pokusevski seem like solid sell high candidates to me. 

@nassero99 You do have a lot of stashes! 

First, I would consider moving on from at least one of your stashed players. You have multiple aging, injury-prone stars (Butler, Davis, James, Leonard) alongside an injured Jokic. Taking up the IR with two less valuable players will seriously limit your ability to compete in the short-term. Fultz and Johnson are valuable players when healthy, but I don't think it's worth it if your record suffers for months while you wait for them to recover. I wouldn't retain either player if I managed your roster, even if I wouldn't like being put in a position where I have to drop them. Pokusevski is currently ranked where Fultz and Johnson are projected, while Monk has reached that level over the past four games. There isn't any meaningful drop-off if you swap them today.

Go ahead and grab Pokusevski right away. Whatever risk you were comfortable assuming with Hayes also applies to him, but the truth is that they are firmly on the standard league radar. Both work very well in a punt PTS build. Since you're in a punt PTS build and not particularly competitive in 3PT, I have to admit that I don't understand why Monk appeals to you. Instead, you could try to find some of the following players: Brandon Clarke, Caleb Martin, Charles Bassey, Chris Boucher, Deni Avdija, Dennis Smith Jr., Georges Niang, Harrison Barnes, Jalen Williams, Jeremy Sochan, John Konchar, Jordan Goodwin, Jose Alvarado, Kevon Looney, KJ Martin, Larry Nance Jr., Patrick Williams, Santi Aldama, Torrey Craig, Trey Murphy and Yuta Watanabe. This isn't an all-inclusive list but it should give you a good start. I can always address more specific questions, if needed.

Good luck! 

Hi @dballbball !

please rate my team. Appreciate the work you do. Playing in a 10T 9 Cat. Notable trades: Traded Sabonis for Gobert and Middleton, KPJ and Jamal Murray for Jaylen Brown.

@dballbball Thank you so much! Monk pickup was purely for a boost to assists and a little extra boost to the free throw percentage. Will take this advice on board thanks

Hey guys are you still doing this? I tried this earlier but I think I got lost in the mix. Attached is a photo of my draft. 

It’s a 10 team, H2H, 9 category league with a 36 game per week limit. But our 9th category isn’t turnovers it’s FTM. So we have  two free throw categories - FTM and FT%. 

it’s an auction draft with $200. I’m currently in 3rd place. Pretty much middle of the pack in all categories, except currently first in steals and assists. 

let me know what you think or if you have any suggestions! This is our 10th year and our league name is The Dirk Academy.